


You are everything my dreams are made off

by Inuhime



Series: Hidden Marks [2]
Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: Alpha Athena Grant, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Athena and Bobby get together, Beatrice Carter's A+ parenting, Bobby has the patience of a saint, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Good Parent Bobby Nash, Lily would have been better off not meeting her grandma, Micheal is a good ex, Omega Bobby Nash, Past Mpreg, Protective Athena Grant, The woman don't know when to shut up and quit, This thing got away from me, cause I just had too, it was supposed to be a small thing, like seriously seriously got away from me, protective Lily Nash, s2e11 dealt with
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-04
Updated: 2021-01-04
Packaged: 2021-03-15 07:16:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,625
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28559679
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Inuhime/pseuds/Inuhime
Summary: Athena figures out what she wants, and totally goes for it. Bobby's all for it, Lily is happy her parents are working it out and getting together. Only person to bring the trouble? Beatrice Carter of course, because how can anyone be good enough for the woman. Bobby has no idea what he's in for when he has to meet his alpha's mother, and Athena could have no idea just how bad things were going to get. Because Lily is her mother's child and no one messes with her daddy.
Relationships: Athena Grant/Bobby Nash
Series: Hidden Marks [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1970266
Comments: 14
Kudos: 45





	You are everything my dreams are made off

**Author's Note:**

> Alrighty... here I go again with this AU... We're closer to the 'hidden mark' time now at least. XD" This idea came to me out of the blue and before I knew it I had written like 20 pages. I worked two episodes into the story but I've played with the timing of things to work them into my AU. If you read the first you shouldn't be lost here. You'll know who Lily is, if you haven't I do recommend you read that first.  
> As always this AU deals with female alpha/male omega and all the ideas and specifics that entails. If this irks you please don't read, though that is not touched up here in any detail it is understood that Bobby did give birth to Lily and Athena is very much all alpha even if she did repress it a bit while she was married to Michael.  
> Please don't copy or repost my stories anywhere, the only place you should see this is here on AO3. I don't own anything and am only writing this for my own satisfaction. And remember comments and Kudos feed the authors! Alrighty... on with the show... as it were. LOL

“How is the new firefighter working out?” Athena asked coming over to the kitchen area of the loft where Bobby was currently chopping vegetables for a salad. The man chuckled and looked about to say something that probably would have been hilarious, but in the end he didn’t say it. Probably because he was nice and well mannered enough to think it wouldn’t be a nice thing to say even with the people involved not here. 

“It’s settling down now.” Bobby finally said with that soft smile of his. 

“Oh?” Athena asked with a raised eyebrow. “I know integrating a new alpha into an already established group can be… tricky. I thought your people would handle it.” 

“They did… For the most part, there’s some issues per say with Buck. But I think they’ve smoothed out now.” Bobby said with another chuckle. Athena raised an eyebrow again clearly asking for more information. “He’s an unmated omega Athena, trust me I expected some trouble. Eddie is a young, strong alpha and that can cause friction. Buck hasn’t always had the best experiences with alphas. He hasn’t talked much about his past but trust me his behavior and what he doesn’t say speaks volumes. When I told Eddie about the team here, about how we’re a pack I told him we had an unmated omega. So he knew that coming in. ” 

“But you think it’s alright now?” Athena asked because the boy hadn’t made the best first impression on her, but he had grown on her and at the end of the day he still was a young mateless, packless omega that was important to Bobby, that much was clear to anyone with eyes. Bobby had taken the boy under his wing, and the boy saw Bobby as a parental figure even if he didn’t fully realize it yet. Athena knew and understood packless omega who came into the circumstances Evan had with this job almost always tried to integrate themselves into the established pack if they could. It was just safer, and more emotionally stable for an omega to be in a pack. An omega without pack scents on them was always in danger after all. It still made her wonder what had happened in Buck’s life in the first place for him to be packless. She knew it couldn’t have been anything good. 

“Yeah, I think they figured themselves out. Eddie has omega sisters, he was patient, understanding of the fact that Buck felt threatened and just let Buck work himself out. This morning’s call helped, Eddie saw he could depend on Buck to be there and Buck saw Eddie was okay.” Bobby said with a chuckle. “I would have preferred they work themselves out without a grenade in the mix but I’ll take what I can get.”

“A grenade… Oh lord, you were the ones that responded to that call? I heard an ambulance exploded.” Athena asked and didn’t ask if everyone was alright because she knew Bobby wouldn’t be this calm if they weren’t. 

“Yeah… The chief and the city are not pleased.” Bobby said with a laugh mixing the salad. “But what are you going to do… Bomb techs got there a little too late. At least we got the patient resolved and safe so no one got hurt.” 

“That is a good thing at least, I’m not even gonna ask how anyone ends up with a grenade in their leg though.” Athena said, shaking her head. Bobby just laughed again. 

“I’ve learned not to think about people’s motives for doing anything. I don’t judge, I just help.” Bobby said with a smile. Athena could only chuckle, smile and appreciate how good this man was because she knew just how rare that was. She could only be grateful that Lily had a man like Bobby there for her to grow up with. Bobby smiled at her again, he always appreciated when she came in here in full uniform. He could appreciate how good she looked in it. “But what are you doing here this time of the day? Staying for lunch?” 

“No, actually I came by to talk to you and it wasn’t about Buck and Eddie.” Athena said with a chuckle of her own as she came closer to Bobby and leaned against the kitchen island watching him. “I got a call from Lily’s teachers.” She said watching his reactions, he did wince slightly. “So you know what I’m gonna ask about… Why didn’t you tell me Bobby… If she’s fighting it’s serious.” 

“She’s not, I’ve handled it and I’ll speak to the teachers about bothering you about this.” Bobby said shaking his head, clearly not happy as he mixed salad dressings. 

“I’m her parent too Bobby, we agreed. If she’s having trouble in her new school or fighting with the other kids I should have known.” Athena said as gently as she could because she didn’t want this to delve into bad territory. 

“She fought with another little alpha in her class because he was picking on her friend. That’s all that happened, I spoke with the boy’s parents and he was punished for bullying. I dealt with Lily, I explained to her that she needs to go to an adult if that happens and not fight, she understood. It’s true that you’re going to have to talk to her about her alpha instincts but she’s still barely 6. Honestly I don’t know what a good age for that talk is. No one got in trouble at school because they’re six. It’s expected that they’re still learning how to deal with things.” Bobby said and shook his head with a little sigh. 

“Was her little friend named Andrew? Was he the one she was protecting?” Athena asked with a sigh because she wasn’t sure either. She had known Lily was going to be different to raise than her first two, betas were so much easier to raise. She honestly hadn’t expected the differences to be so starkly apparent.

“Andrew? No.” Bobby said, shaking his head and actually chuckling. “Andrew was last week, you’re about two crushes behind since him.” He laughed again at the face Athena made hearing that. “You can relax, it’s as innocent as innocent can be. She just likes to protect them, thinks the other alpha kids are ‘mean’ and it’s her job to make sure the ones she likes are protected. The other parents think it’s adorable, she doesn’t even like to hold their hand because boys are still gross. So are girls for that matter, though she hasn’t tried to protect any of them yet. When I asked her why she said girls can protect themselves. I had to explain to her that not all girls were like mommy and aunty Hen.”

Athena had to laugh at that, she had to wonder what a picture of the world her daughter was forming that she thought all women were like her and Hen. But really she found she didn’t mind it, if her daughter grew up into a strong woman because she grew up around them all then they’d done a good job in her eyes. Alpha or no that was all she could hope for. 

“You can talk to her about it if you want. It’s not like I’m telling you not too.” Bobby said in a quieter tone now. 

“Then what is it? Because you didn’t even want the teachers calling me about it.” Athena mentioned, watching the man carefully. She wished Bobby’s reactions to things wasn’t a full mystery to her in some instances. Especially ones like this, it would be so much easier to deal with him if she understood where this apprehension was coming from. 

“It was a small thing, Athena. I can deal with it. You already do enough for us, really. Last thing I want to do is give you even more to deal with.” Bobby said, now moving the food to the table. But Athena had the inkling that was only to keep from having to look her in the eye. 

“Bobby come here.” Athena said, not using her alpha voice but it was close enough. She wasn’t going to make a big deal out of this at his workplace, the crew was still downstairs. But she just knew she had to deal with this, and she had to do it now. She couldn’t have Bobby thinking he had to hide things from her to keep from causing her ‘trouble’. That wasn’t the way she wanted this going. Bobby looked over to her, apprehension all over his face again but like the good omega he was he obeyed and came over. Athena gave him a small smile running a hand over his face gently appreciating how easily he obeyed her even though he didn’t wear her mark. “I am that girl’s mother, and I take that very seriously. I’ve said this before but apparently I will need to keep repeating it. You and Lily are not a burden, I want to take care of you. You just won’t let me.” 

“I’m not yours to take care of Athena.” Bobby said truthfully, he looked so hurt at having to say it. Hearing it tore at Athena’s heart, it opened a crack she didn’t realize had formed there. “I never have been.” He added and Athena looked up into his eyes, she felt like they were having a whole other conversation separate from what their souls were speaking. She could see and read so much in his eyes. Like their souls were communicating too and hers was telling her she was an idiot because he was right. He wasn’t hers when he so easily could be. She could practically feel his soul screaming for it, screaming that it wanted to belong to her. It shouldn’t be this clear, or easy to read. He wasn’t hers, her soul bonded had died. His had died as well, he would never have her name written on his skin. But it didn’t seem to matter, he was still already hers and she could feel it. 

“Maybe you should be.” Was all Athena said blinking up at him, watching him blink in shock at her. “I’m tired of this little dance, and I’m tired of having to act like I don’t want you. Because I do, everytime you leave my house with Lily I have to hold myself back from wanting to drag you into my nest and never letting you go again.” 

“Athena…” Bobby looked to her in shock, he truthfully hadn’t seen this coming. He’d hoped, and he’d prayed but he hadn’t seen this coming. Athena was an amazing alpha that could have any omega she put her mind to. Bobby wasn’t blind, and he certainly wasn’t an idiot. He had a history many didn’t want to even touch, and he didn’t want her to do anything just because of Lily. But he got pulled down to her height and before he could really think of it too much they were kissing. Such passion, possessiveness and love that it made his head spin. Made all thought vanish as his arms went around her middle and she got even closer to him. So close he could feel every inch of her body against his, so close he was pretty sure he could tell the difference between her gun and the other hardness pressing against him at the moment. The growls caught him by surprise too, but he was mewling right back in response and he could feel her satisfaction from his response. 

The moment was broken with cheers, applause, and shocked gasps from the group of hungry firefighters that had come up the stairs wondering where lunch was and just walked into their impromptu make out session. Bobby could only laugh a little as he blushed, Athena looked slightly embarrassed but mostly proud of herself. They didn’t jump back away from each other like caught teenagers but he still had to look down and away to hide the blush for a second. Athena’s hands still on him still made his skin tingle though, even with the audience they now had.

“Would… huh… would you two like some alone time?” Hen asked looking to them, her tone clearly a tease as she chuckled a little. 

“Yeah, cause we’re starved Cap. but you know, we can wait.” Chim said from besides Hen with that look on his face like they wouldn’t live this down for a long time. Bobby noticed Buck just looked shocked looking at them like he’d just caught his parents having sex and Bobby supposed he sort off had and that made Bobby just chuckle. Eddie had a look like he was pleased to see this turn of events but wasn’t going to say anything. He was still a probie and the man wasn’t pushing his luck. 

“Funny… You want to eat or tease?” Bobby said, quickly putting the cap’s hat back on leaving the omega instincts behind. Showing his strength in being able to do that when his alpha was still there, still holding his hand. Her scent was still all around him, it would make other omegas weak at the knees for her. But Bobby knew, he knew here he was Captain first. “Food’s on the table, go ahead.” 

The group laughed loudly, taking seats and starting to share the bowls of food around only now when Bobby said they could, while pretending not to look their way. Bobby shook his head again and Athena smirked. Their behavior showing their respect for Bobby as a pack leader, it made Athena proud of him to have created such trust in his little group. 

“We can talk about this later… My place? Please?” Athena asked looking up at him with pleading eyes and not really caring that now they had an audience. Bobby smiled softly watching her only. 

“I’ll be there.” Bobby said, giving her a nod and a chuckle. “Would you like to stay for lunch with a bunch of nosy busybodies?” 

“For you and your cooking I would put up with a lot more than these busybodies.” Athena said with a laugh and the two of them headed to the table. She noticed how her answer seemed to brighten his scent even more, showing he’d loved hearing how pleased she was with his cooking. His ability to feed his family, his pack. It didn’t surprise her, omegas were often happy to hear when their alphas were pleased with something they did. But she realized she was just now starting to see how deep it went for Bobby. As they sat the group of firefighters laughed, started to ask questions, and to tease just like Bobby knew they would. Athena and Bobby shook their heads and laughed at it all. There was a lot of teasing, but you could tell there was nothing but love behind it.

“I’m not answering, pass the potatoes.” Athena said laughing at the whines from his crew after Chim had asked if they were serious and if there was gonna be a bite soon. Bobby had laughed, grinned but said nothing much to the crew’s chagrin. It wasn’t like he knew where this was going either so he for sure wasn’t going to say a thing. 

~*~

A few months and a lot of talking and quiet, careful dating later Bobby and Athena were fully ready for Bobby to move in. Athena was ready to finally be able to mate and mark her omega to make him hers. She’d just gotten a surprise first, her parents were coming into town and of course they wanted to see her, and the kids. Athena had told them about Lily, not the whole story but enough where they understood they had a new granddaughter they didn’t know about and that the child was the product of a rut/heat week with an omega. Her mother had sounded excited when they’d spoken about it, she’d sounded excited at the prospect of a grandchild she hadn’t met. But Athena knew her mother, and she could only hope this wouldn’t go as badly as she thought it was about too. After all, for all the excitement in her mother’s voice the questions about ‘how did this happen?’, ‘You couldn’t control yourself?’ and of course the ‘you had a child with some slut omega you didn’t know? ’ had still popped up. It had taken all of Athena’s control to explain to her mother that the omega hadn’t been a slut. But she hadn’t bothered explaining more than that, she knew it wouldn’t matter.

“We’re here.” Micheal said coming through the front door. Bobby peeked out of the kitchen with a little knowing smile on his face when he smelled Micheal’s scent. The scent screamed ‘I wanna leave again as quickly as possible’. For a beta to even produce a scent that strong was impressive, it spoke volumes of how Micheal felt about the whole situation.

“They’re not here yet.” The man said with a grin, ducking back into the kitchen/dinning room to finish the presentation. 

“You can still make your escape.” May said from behind him with a teasing tone and a smirk to her dad. 

“You know what, just put your stuff away before your grandparents get here.” Micheal said, rolling his eyes at his daughter’s audacity before looking amazed as he walked to the kitchen and saw the spread of food Bobby had made. “Yeah!” 

“Right?!” Bobby said looking proudly at the table and at his work. It had taken him practically the entire day and he was only hoping his skills in the kitchen would make a good impression on Athena’s parents. The people that would soon be his in-laws. He’d gotten lucky with his first alpha’s in-laws, he had a feeling that wouldn’t be the case with Athena’s parents. 

“Oh this is nice. Very impressive.” Micheal had to add looking at the food on the table and how amazing, clean, and in place everything looked.

“Well impressive is what i’m going for. Can you stay? Will you join us?” Bobby asked, wanting to know if the entire family was going to be here. More importantly if he was going to have back up. Micheal knew these people, he didn’t.

“Ohhh, hell no thank you.” Micheal said making a horror filled face at the idea. “Beatrice has never been a fan of mine.” He looked at Bobby and laughed. “You have no earthly idea what is about to happen to you, do you?” He just chuckled at that. Bobby looked at the man confused wondering about that. How bad could it possibly be? “Tell ‘em I said hi.” Micheal said with a laugh as he walked towards the living room clearly wanting to leave. Wanting to make a quick, clean getaway of course before Micheal could leave the front door opened and there was Athena with two people Bobby could only assume were Mr. and Mrs. Carter. 

“We’re here!” Athena announced from the doorway. “You still here? I thought you’d drop the kids off and run?” Athena said with a little smirk to Micheal coming down the stairs. 

“Well they wouldn’t jump out of the car while it was still rolling.” Micheal said, trying to be funny. In the background May and Harry were excitedly saying hello with hugs and kisses to their grandparents. Micheal gave his ex-parents-in-law a smile; Though really you could hardly call it a smile. “Samuel, Beatrice how are you doing? It’s good to see you.” 

“Micheal, I didn’t know you’d be here.” Beatrice said as she came down the steps giving Micheal a smile, you could totally tell there was something behind the smile for the man and it wasn’t admiration. Before anyone could say anything nice or otherwise back Lily came out of the rooms and rushed over. Micheal had never been so happy to see the little girl in his life. Lily was dressed adorably with a yellow sundress and matching shoes, her hair done in a double french braid that ended in little buns. Bobby had clearly gone all out dressing his daughter, putting as much energy into that as he had into the food. Somehow the little girl was amazingly well behaved enough that she’d stayed clean and pretty the entire day while her dad had cooked and cleaned. 

“Mommy!” Lily yelled and Athena had to stop where she was going to catch her daughter when she threw herself at her. 

“Hi, baby.” Athena asked even though she could smell the cooking and knew it had to be Bobby, Lily hugged her mom wrapping her little arms around the woman’s neck. 

“Daddy’s in the kitchen. He’s been cooking all day and wouldn’t let me taste any.” Lily said and Athena had to laugh at that. Before she could say anything Lily had looked to the other people she’d never seen before. “Who are you?” She asked and the Carters just melted watching the little girl. Beatrice could tell she was an alpha. You could just tell, the little girl just beamed it clear as day. From the way she looked at you, to the way she smelled she was exactly her mother’s daughter. Athena for her part knew exactly what her mother’s look meant and she wouldn’t let her mother treat her daughter like she’d treated her. Her daughter wasn’t here for her mother to try and control or mold into some little being she had in mind for her to be. Athena could only imagine what the reaction would be when she realized that Lily was mixed race though. 

“Princess these are my parents, Samuel and Beatrice Carter. Dad, mom this is Lily Nash soon to be Lily Carter-Nash.” Athena said looking over to Micheal who she noticed had said something to May. May in turn had gone over to the kitchen/dining room and come back. Since Bobby hadn’t come out yet she figured he’d gotten told to stay over there a bit longer and she wasn’t sure if it was a good thing or not. 

“Well hi there, aren’t you the prettiest little girl ever. You know, you look just like your mommy did when she was little.” Beatrice said with a proud grandmother’s smile on her face. “Oh Athena she’s adorable. You can just tell she’s a Carter.” The older woman said, sounding proud. 

“Thank you.” Lily said cause she’d been well raised so far, but anyone that knew her could tell so far she wasn’t liking Beatrice. The little girl was good with her nose, and she was a good judge of character. She also knew enough that she understood her mom’s parents were her grandparents and she remembered her daddy telling her she had to be nice. But she never opened up to people right away, for all her extroverted nature it took her a while to trust you enough for her to show that. 

“You’re very welcome little one.” Beatrice said and tried to take the little girl from Athena’s arms without bothering to ask if she even could but Lily frowned looking to her and hugged herself tighter to her mom. Athena rubbed her daughter’s back, when her mother threw her a look that said ‘excuse me!’ like she had been expecting Lily to be like May and Harry and just jump into her arms with automatic love for her. Athena though she wasn’t about to force her daughter into loving a person she’d never met. 

“She doesn’t know either of you mama. You have to give her time to adjust to your scents.” Athena said and looked to Lily giving her a smile. “It’s okay, alright.” Lily looked to the two older people and nodded to her mom, but then pouted as her mommy put her down. “It’s okay.” Athena said patting her daughter’s head and going to the kitchen. Lily looked up to Samuel and Beatrice then went to her big sibling’s side as they walked to the dining room. May easily took the little girl’s hand and spoke something quietly to her that made Lily beam and giggle. Through the whole thing Beatrice raised an eyebrow watching the little girl with disapproval already on her face.

“Just remember whatever happens, they leave on Saturday.” Athena said quickly and in a quiet tone to her omega as she came over while he’d been standing by the table. She wrapped her arm around his and pulled him to her parents putting on a smile. “Mama, daddy this is Bobby.” 

“Hi.” Bobby said giving the two older people one of his smiles. He extended a handshake to Samuel. The man happily shaking his hand back. “Pleasure to meet you Mr.Carter.” 

“Oh, no need for that. Christian names will do. Just call me Samuel.” The man said back with a pleased tone before he looked over to the table and looked more pleased at the spread of food. “Well, that’s a good looking spread.” He added as he walked over, the kids already there. Beatrice looked Bobby up and down quickly, you could just tell she was controlling her features to keep from saying what she really wanted to say. You could tell when realization hit her that this was the omega her daughter had mentioned, and this was the father of the little girl she’d just met. You could tell when her entire opinion on the whole matter changed permanently.

“He livin’ here already?” Beatrice said giving her daughter a look that Bobby was sure he didn’t want to know the meaning of. Bobby had raised an eyebrow and given Athena a look at her mother’s change of expression.

“Ah, no ma’am. Not until after the mating. It’s uh, it’s a pleasure to finally meet you.” Bobby quickly added while keeping the smile. Because he was going to be civil, and nice. He wasn’t going to cause trouble between Athena and her parents in her own home. He was raised better than that. 

“You’re very… tall.” Beatrice added as if that wasn’t the thing she wanted to say but it was the only ‘nice’ thing she could think off and gave Bobby another look before looking at Micheal who this whole time had been silent behind Beatrice. He didn’t necessarily want to watch all this but he was also afraid to even make a move, afraid the woman would turn her claws his way, too bad she did anyways. “So Micheal will your husband be joining us?” The woman asked Micheal nearly the same look she’d just given Bobby. Like she already knew the answer the man would give wouldn’t meet her ‘standards’. Micheal gave Athena a quick shocked look before he covered it up and gave the one a fake smile. 

“Oh, no. Glen and I aren’t actually married.” Micheal said, because what else was he going to tell this woman. He knew how this would go after all, and he wasn’t expecting miracles today. 

“Well of course you’re not married yet.” Beatrice said walking towards the dining room giving her daughter a look. “You’re barely divorced.” 

Bobby stood there smiling a fake smile that Athena could be sure he used very rarely as he watched the woman go towards the dining room. “Saturday you said?” He asked Athena who had been holding his hand like a life line the entire time. His alpha gave him a ‘Mhmm.’ and he just nodded. They walked into the dinning room too, like soldiers into a battle field. 

~*~

A day later found Athena and Bobby in the kitchen searching all over for a colander. Lily nearby giggling nearby watching her parents struggle. 

“I don’t understand why your mother would reorganize the entire kitchen while we’re at work?!” Bobby said with a slight frown, while looking around at all the cabinets. He might have not moved in yet but this was practically already his kitchen. The omega wasn’t taking kindly to someone coming into his space and changing it, Athena just sighed. 

“She said it was impossible for her to find anything in this kitchen.” Athena answered back looking in more cabinets and drawers. Bobby doing the same again with another sigh. 

“So she retaliated by making it impossible for us to find anything?” Bobby asked with a confused frown. He didn’t understand parents like Athena’s. 

“Found it!” Athena said, claiming victory pulling the thing out of a bottom cabinet. 

“Ah, thank you.” Bobby said with a smile taking it from her. In the living room Samuel and Beatrice sat with May and Harry while May showed them pictures of her from before the prom. You could tell when they got to a picture with Bobby in it as Beatrice’s whole face changed. In the dining room Athena finally looked at the table and saw that it certainly wasn’t ready for eating at. 

“What is this?” Athena asked, looking to Bobby after looking at the mess. 

“That is Harry’s science project. Micheal had that conference so I was helping him out with it.” Bobby answered taking care of the pasta he’d been draining. “Harry was supposed to put it away but tell you what… I can clear it.”

“That boy has you wrapped around his finger.” Athena said pointing a finger at him with a smirk. “You do know someday soon you’re gonna have to go from ‘best buddy Bobby’ to ‘step-dad Bobby’.” She said, giving him a knowing look as she started putting the mess on the table together. Bobby sighed and nodded. 

“You’re right, I will have him put it away if you can help me find the damn cheese grater please.” Bobby said, giving her a nod, touching her shoulder as if he needed the light touch for strength before going over to the living room. Lily of course followed her daddy and watched from nearby as he knelt in front of Harry giving him a small smile. “Hey, Harry… I need you to clear the table so we can eat.” 

“Okay, in a minute.” Harry said in a typical child fashion not really paying that much attention to Bobby. From behind Bobby you could see Lily watching as she stood behind the chair nearby. She hadn’t taken her eyes off her daddy the entire time they’d been here while Samuel and Beatrice had been visiting. 

“Not in a minute, now please.” Bobby said gently standing up. Harry nodded and gave a light ‘okay’. To Lily what her daddy had done wasn’t bad, he did the same to her when he wanted her to do stuff. He was gentle with his tone always, she could tell Harry wasn’t bothered by it either. But before Harry could even stand up Beatrice looked to Bobby, not having liked what Bobby had just done and Lily just frowned at the woman from where she was. The little girl scrunched her nose not liking the sudden scent of angry alpha that was filling the room up. 

“Who are you to give orders?!” Beatrice said with the tone of a woman who was used to people listening and obeying. “They are not your children, and you are not their father. I was very sorry to hear about your family’s situation. But my grandchildren are not your consolation prize.” Before she’d even stopped talking Athena was already coming out of the kitchen, the look on her face clearly showing anger. Bobby had taken steps back the moment Beatrice had stood up not wanting a confrontation with the woman. 

“Kids!” Was all she had to say. May and Harry quickly got up, May picking up a struggling Lily who didn’t want to leave. The little alpha growled but May held on and the three went off into the bedrooms, the older two knowing the tone meant ‘adults had to talk’. It didn’t mean Lily liked it. As the kids left Samuel gave his wife a ‘what the hell did you do?’ look but she didn’t look ashamed. Bobby for his part stood in the back watching Athena while trying to control his scent so it didn’t show how upset he was. “Apologize mama.” 

“It’s alright Athena… She doesn’t have…” Bobby tried saying, because the last thing he wanted was to cause a fight when he’d been trying so hard to keep things peaceful in the family. 

“Yeah she does!” Athena said, the strong alpha tone leaving no room for arguments. Bobby quieted and looked to the floor for a moment before looking to Athena and Beatrice again. “If she wants to stay in this house tonight, she does!” 

“I’m sorry I said that in front of the children.” Beatrice said after she’d looked to her mate but he was clearly not going to be any help to her. The man had just looked at her with a ‘go on’ look on his face. 

“You shouldn’t have said it at all! It is none of your business.” Athena said strongly. Beatrice looked at her daughter, a tired look on her face as she did so. 

“I am tired of you deciding what’s my business Athena. You didn’t tell me you were seeing this man, much less that you had slept with him or had a child and now you’re going to get mated! Just like last year, my baby May almost dies and you didn’t say a word for over a month.” The woman said, raising her voice towards the end. 

“Because she is not your baby girl! She is mine!” Athena said not backing down, and now Bobby stood back there sighing cause it was two strong alphas butting heads. “And Micheal and I needed to focus all our attention on her, not you!” 

“I would have wanted to help.” Beatrice said just as strongly as before. 

“You never wanna help! You just wanna tell me where I screwed up!” Athena added still not backing down but clearly exasperated with her mother already.

“Because you never learn! You jump into everything without thinking it through. Without considering the consequences. I’m gonna move to Los Angeles! I’m gonna drop out of law school! I’m gonna become a cop! I’m gonna mate a gay man! I’m gonna mate a white man!” She said and that made Bobby raise an eyebrow. He knew the woman didn’t like him, he hadn’t thought it was the color of his skin she didn’t like. “ At least this one is the right secondary sex. Sometimes I think it’s a miracle those kids are a…” Beatrice didn’t get to finish, just as Athena was about to talk in retaliation to that Bobby and Samuel both came forward to stop the two women. 

“Okay… That’s enough.” Bobby said, coming forward trying to stop the argument before it escalated even further. 

“Bobby’s right, now we should all just take a minute and let things calm down.” Samuel said standing from the sofa looking from his daughter to his mate. 

“Sir with all due respect I gotta say, your daughter is an amazing woman and a damn good mother and she doesn’t deserve to be spoken too that way in her own home.” Bobby said because he was gonna stand by his alpha no matter what Beatrice said. Athena took a breath looking to the floor for a moment to control her anger, but also to hide how amazed and grateful she was for Bobby standing up for her like that. 

“Your mother was outta line.” Samuel said truthfully to his daughter. “B, I think you should say something to your daughter.” He added looking to his mate, who at least had the decency to look slightly sorry. Samuel could only hope his mate would say something nice.

“We’ll leave in the morning.” Was all Beatrice said, and it wasn’t what Athena had thought she’d hear. It wasn’t what she wanted to hear, and she had no idea why she expected any different. She knew her mother, she just let out a frustrated sigh, shook her head and went back to the kitchen. Bobby followed to try and talk to her, at least make her feel better… Or try too in this case.

Unknown to them all Lily had been listening to the whole thing. Because while Harry thought she was with May, May thought she was with Harry and she wasn’t with either one. She was finding betas were easy to trick, and she was daddy’s girl. She wanted to know what was going on. So she listened, and she bit back little growls while the woman they’d said was grandma attacked her mommy and said mean things. She could smell her daddy’s scent, and her mommy’s and she knew they were upset, and mommy was angry, and no one was happy anymore. No one had smelled happy since that woman had been here. All Lily could think was she was glad they were leaving tomorrow. It was only because she’d been told by May they’d get in trouble if the adults knew they listened that she hadn’t gone out to defend her daddy.

~*~

Only tomorrow came and the woman didn’t leave. A few more days passed and Lily found herself with her daddy again in her mommy’s home and her ‘grandparents’ were still there. She was being ‘nice’ like daddy had told her to be, but she stayed glued to her daddy and would only give Beatrice little growls when she tried to touch her or get close. Her daddy kept apologizing for her behavior but she didn’t want him too. She didn’t like her and she wasn’t sorry for growling. The protective behavior wasn’t lost on Samuel, the fact that his newest little granddaughter was protecting her daddy from his mate wasn’t lost on him. He was sure it wasn’t lost on his mate either. The fact that Lily came to him, that he’d been able to play and get to know the little girl when she hadn’t had his mate angrier towards Bobby everyday, but Samuel knew it wasn’t the man’s fault. Though if Bobby or the others realized the why of it they didn’t say. 

Bobby seemed to Samuel like a good man, Lily was an amazingly well behaved aside from the growling bit. She was an energetic, and protective little girl. While she had all trademarks of an intelligent child raised by a single parent Samuel could tell she also loved her mother, and her siblings already. He was proud of the little pack his daughter had formed. If only Beatrice could see that things would be calmer. 

When Athena got home from work that night, it was at least to a peaceful home with dinner almost ready. Her father and Harry set the table, while Bobby manned the barbecue. Her mother and May were in the kitchen. 

“Mom! We saw you on tv, on the news!” Harry said as he came over and hugged her, sounding excited and happy to see her. 

“You did?!” Athena said hugging her son back. Lily came over, all laughs and giggles as she hugged herself to her mother’s leg. Athena smiled picking her up, giving her a hug and a kiss before putting her back down. 

“Saving the day, and saving those boys.” Samuel said, sounding proud and looking proud too.

“Are they gonna be okay? They said the older boy had been with that man for a long time.” May asked worried about the boys her mother had saved, the boys she’d seen on the news. Being old enough to know what they must have lived through knowing it couldn’t have been easy.

“I think so.” Athena said coming over and giving her older daughter a hug. “I hope so, he’s been through enough.” 

“Hell of a job Sergeant Carter.” Bobby said with a smile of pride to her as he came in from the patio carrying the barbecue. 

“Oh?! Thank you, Captain.” Athena said with a brighter smile as she came over to him and they gave each other a light kiss. 

“Okay, looks like we’re ready to eat.” Beatrice announced, and no one missed the fact she had just so happened to speak up right when Athena and Bobby kissed. 

“Just need a minute.” Athena said, giving her mother a look before she headed for her room. Once there she put her gun away, and started taking off her jewelry thinking about everything and just wanting the peace to return. Everything felt strained while her mother was there, and Lily’s behavior was worrying as well. In the entire time she’d known her daughter she’d never seen Lily behave like she did towards her mother. She knew Bobby was worried too, he didn’t want his daughter to have a bad relationship with a family member. But he also didn’t want her traumatized either, and Athena couldn’t blame him. She agreed with him one hundred percent.

“Tonya Kingston.” Beatrice said from the doorway, Athena turned and looked at her mother hearing a name she hadn’t heard in a very long time. She’d smelled her coming but hadn’t actually thought her mother would say anything, let alone that name. “I saw you on television with those boys, and thought of her. The men searching the woods for her, all in a line finding nothing but that beret.” Athena just looked to her mother, sighed and sat on the bench at the foot of her bed to take off her shoes. Beatrice didn’t stop though, she came further into her daughter’s bedroom. “I never knew why you wanted this job. Maybe I get it a little more today.” They looked at each other, once again Athena said nothing. “I know you think I don’t understand your life, but you never understood mine either. I met a man, fell in love, made a home and raised a beautiful daughter who ran away from us the first chance she got and hasn’t stopped running since.” Beatrice sighed, walking towards the door again with a sigh. Athena sighing as well, not really knowing what to say to her mother. “Lately it feels like you and I are rushing, racing to some finish line. Will I die and leave you first? Or will I live long enough to discover you’ve completely turned away from me?” She said rubbing her daughter’s back sadly as she made her way to the doorway again. 

“Maybe I was running.” Athena finally said, Beatrice stopped nearly at the doorway and turned around to look at her daughter again. “This family, this job that’s what I was running towards. Mama I needed to find a place with space big enough where I could build a life that was important to me. I want you to be a part of that, but only if you can accept all of it; Even Bobby.”

“I love you, baby.” Beatrice said, coming closer to her daughter. A sad expression on her face, like she already knew this talk wouldn’t change her daughter’s mind. But she had to say it anyway. “But you’re making a terrible mistake.” Just as she said it, Athena shook her head. They’d both been ready for their reactions. “And I worry that the next time your life falls apart you won’t be able to put it back together. That man knew what he was doing when he had that little girl, and he’s using her to get to you.” Beatrice said, stopping nearly in tears but controlling herself. She turned from her daughter and left the bedroom. Athena let her go, shaking her head not knowing what else to say to her mother. Knowing she wouldn’t change her mind, just like the older woman couldn’t change hers. Athena knew full well Bobby wasn’t like that. He wasn’t what her mother thought him to be, he wouldn’t have even told her about Lily if Athena hadn’t confronted her. The last thing on his mind had been ‘trapping’ an alpha when he couldn’t have known he’d even see her again when he had Lily. But explaining all that to her mother ‘again’ would be like yelling at the wind, and Athena didn’t have the energy for that tonight.

Dinner was a stilted affair. The children tried to keep up the spirits talking and chatting away with their grandparents while Bobby wondered what had happened in the bedroom between mother and daughter. Athena only gave him smiles and held his hand under the table. Each taking strength from the other to get through the night. The end of the night came fast and Bobby prepared to leave with Lily. Honestly he was ready to leave, he had shift the next day and Lily just wasn’t happy at the moment. He was ready to get her home and into bed and reassure her that Beatrice Carter would be gone soon. 

“I wish you didn’t have to leave this late.” Athena said with a sigh as she held Lily, rubbing her back while she and Bobby talked at the front door. The baby girl was clutching her mother like a lifeline pouting away like she always did when they had to leave.

“I know sweetheart, but we’ll be mated soon.” Bobby said, giving her a smile. “Then we won’t leave.” 

Athena chuckled and smiled to that, she leaned into Bobby giving him a kiss. Lily giggled between them as she watched how her parents loved each other. Athena smiled tickling her daughter as Bobby chuckled and smiled lovingly. 

“I don’t get a kiss and a hug goodbye from my newest granddaughter? We won’t see each other again till my next visit you know.” Beatrice said, coming over giving the little girl a smile, ignoring Bobby. Lily frowned, clutching more to her mother. 

“No.” Lily said strongly. Bobby looked from Lily to Beatrice with confusion and a frown. He still didn’t understand why his daughter hadn’t warmed up to the woman. More importantly he didn’t understand why the woman was bothering to come over when they were clearly saying good night to only Athena having already said their goodbyes to them and the kids while they’d been near the table. 

“I can see how you’re raising her, maybe you should teach her some appropriate manners and how to respect her elders.” Beatrice said, shaking her head. She’d tried, but the girl she thought was just adorable when she’d met her now only reminded her of her father. She could see the man’s influence all over her, she wasn’t May or Harry. 

“Mama!” Athena said getting angry with her mother all over again. 

“Ma’am with all due respect, you can think or say whatever you want about me. But don’t you dare speak badly of my daughter! She’s showing all the respect you deserve.” Bobby said pushing back, that side of him very few people saw coming out. After all nothing was more dangerous in this world than an omega protecting his child. 

“You’re mean! You don’t like my daddy! I don wanna hug you! I don wanna kiss you. I wan you to leave!” Lily said and now the entire household was in the living room because they heard the raised voice from Lily. Samuel, May, and Harry blinked at what Lily said, even the older Grant kids had never seen Lily that way. Before Beatrice could even respond or recuperate from the shock of such a little girl talking back to her like that Lily just barreled on. “Mommy smells sad and tired when you’re here! You said you’d leave, and you didn’t! Daddy’s nice to you, cause he loves mommy but you’re not to him! Daddy says I don’t have to let people touch me if I don’t want them too! So I don’t wanna hug you!” Lily finished growling more, her eyes glowing red a little. Bobby saw it and took her from Athena, curling the little girl into him letting her smell him so she’d calm down. She was crying now, a sad upset little cry he’d never heard before and never wanted to hear again as she curled into him taking in his scent. It made the man frown, and he looked to Athena shaking his head. There were very few things he’d choose above his alpha, but his daughter would always be one. 

“I’m sorry… I’ll be back when they’re gone.” Bobby said with a sad tone and a shake of his head. He gave the kids and Samuel a sad look. The man had been nice, he hadn’t been like his mate and Bobby was sad he’d be caught in the crossfire of all this. He was even sadder that his daughter was too. He would have loved for his daughter to have more blood family to grow up knowing. But now he knew that wouldn’t happen. 

“I won’t put her through this again.” Bobby added and Athena just nodded sadly in understanding, anger boiling just under the surface. She walked them out to Bobby’s car. She helped put Lily into her big girl seat and talked softly to her while the little girl calmed down and her crying turned into soft hiccups. Athena cleaned her pretty face, telling her she’d see her soon and her parents would be gone. She reassured the little girl that soon they’d live together and she would see that her mommy and daddy wouldn’t be living apart again, that they would all be living as a family. That was the only thing that seemed to calm Lily down. That and telling her Beatrice Carter wouldn’t be back. Athena had tried, but now Athena was done. 

“Does grandma hate daddy cause he’s white?” Lily asked with a still hiccupy voice as her mother held her hand in the back seat of her daddy’s car. She could see her daddy standing nearby too, she could tell he was still upset. The questions shocked them both and Athena gave Bobby a questioning look, but he was as confused as she was. 

“Where did you hear that baby?” Athena asked gently not letting go of her daughter’s hand.

“I heard when she was being mean to you and daddy. She sounded mean when she said you’d mated a gay man, an uncle Michael is gay so she meant him. Then she said ‘white man’ and that has to be daddy right? But she said it just as mean as when she said ‘gay man’. Sis said you’d be mad if you knew I went out to listen. They didn’t know I was, so don’t be mad at them.” Lily said, pouting up to her mommy. 

“Baby…” Athena said, sighing, shaking her head and kissing her daughter’s hand. She absolutely hated having this conversation with her six year old of all people, hated that she was doing it because of her own mother. “Sometimes adults want to hate someone, and they will choose any excuse. Sometimes parents raise their children to think hating like that is okay. It’s never a right thing to do, and it’s never a good thing to do. But it does exist and I’m sorry you had to hear grandma say those things okay. I don’t like that you were listening, because adults sometimes say things little ears shouldn’t listen too. Next time you will stay with May no questions asked and no fighting it.” She said, giving her a small smile and kissing her daughter’s forehead. “But I understand you want to protect your daddy. Next time you come she’ll be gone and everything will go back to normal.” 

“Promise?” Lily asked with a pout, not wanting to let go of her mom’s hands. Her scent softened, loosing some of it's sourness showing Athena the baby girl was calming down.

“I promise.” Athena said, giving her daughter a smile, before hugging her again and managing to leave the car even though all she wanted to do was hug them both and never let go. 

“I’m sorry…” Bobby said as Athena came out of the car over to stand to the side of the driver’s seat where he was currently sitting at, she just shook her head sadly at him. 

“You don’t have any reason to be sorry. You’ve been nothing but amazing the whole week, I’m sorry you had to deal with all this. I’m sorry Lily had too, last thing I wanted was to upset her… or you.” Athena said as she hugged Bobby to her then kissed him needing some more of that connection, knowing she had to go back inside and deal with her mother after he was gone. 

“They’re your parents, and I wish it could have worked out. I wanted her to have at least one set of grandparents there for her. But…” Bobby didn’t finish the sentence as he sighed and rested his head on her shoulders for a moment, just taking the opportunity to scent her and calm himself. 

“I know, I won’t put her through it again either. This won’t happen again, I promise you Bobby.” Athena said sounding certain. She took the opportunity as well to feel him near her, and scent him as she rubbed his back. “You go on, I’ll see you Sunday just like we talked.” 

“Yes, ma’am.” Bobby said, giving her a tired smile before kissing her again and getting fully into the car. A few moments later he was driving away from the house and Athena was walking back inside ready to deal with this whole mess. Bobby was sorry to have to leave her alone to deal with it, but there was nothing he could do. He had to think of Lily first.

When she walked back inside May and Harry had been sent off to their rooms, probably by her father. The two were seated at the living room sofa her father looked done, her mother looked like a mix of apology and sorry I got caught. Her expression just made Athena angrier. The woman could never have the decency to actually be truly sorry for anything she caused. 

“You just can’t help yourself mama! Well I hope you’re proud of yourself! Cause that is one grandchild you will never see again!” Athena said strongly. 

“You would hate me enough to keep her from me! She’s my grandchild! That man turned her against me! Don’t you see?!” Beatrice said just as strongly. Athena just shook her head, trying to calm down. 

“You might not wanna see it mama, but Bobby is the sweetest, kindest man you would ever run into. He has taught that baby girl nothing but good things. He told her to be nice, told her that you were grandparents. Told her that you’d love her! But your behavior towards him was what turned her! That man is the only thing that little girl had until I ran into him again. Do you honestly think any child would choose you over the parent that has loved and cared for them their entire life!” Athena said angrily. Micheal came into the house at that moment only to hear most of what Athena said and winced a bit. Bobby had called him for help, funny enough he had just gotten off the phone with May who’d told him what happened so when Bobby had called he’d already been on his way. Thankfully the roads had been clear this late at night and he lived close. He came over and put a hand on Athena’s shoulder looking over to Samuel and Beatrice. Athena was grateful for the backup, she truly was. “In the time I’ve known her I’ve never seen her get red eyes, do you have any idea how upset a little alpha her age has to be to get red eyes mama!” 

“She doesn’t get that sentimentality or loss of control from us!” Beatrice said but at least she didn’t dare look to her daughter.

“She’s six mama!!! And the sentimentality is something I am immensely grateful for! You know what I had also been grateful for until you came along, mama. I had been grateful that she was being raised to not think of the differences in people. I was grateful that she was being raised by a man who when his daughter asked him why someone was different he only explained it like there was nothing wrong with that person being different no matter what the difference is. That she is being raised to be able to accept people for who they are not what they look like.” Athena said, shaking her head. After the day she’d had she hadn’t needed this when she got home. All she’d wanted was a nice night, but then her mother had happened. “Because of you I had to explain to my six year old why someone would hate another because of the color of their skin.” Athena added shaking her head in anger and sadness before she turned from the woman not wanting to give her a second look.

“Whether you like it or not, whether you believe it or not Bobby is a good man mama. He’s an amazing omega, and an amazing father to Lily. He will be my mate, and until he says so you will not be coming back to this house. You will not see Lily until she wants you too. You’re both welcome to visit but you’ll stay at a hotel and I will meet you there or Micheal can bring May and Harry to see you there if they want to see you. Daddy, I'm sorry you get caught up in this.” Athena added and her father stood, hugging her understanding it all and accepting her decisions. Athena didn’t give her mother another look, her parents retired to the guest room leaving Micheal to deal with Athena as she headed to the patio and sat down with a tired sigh. Micheal brought over a wine glass full of her favorite and handed it to her. 

“I know where you hid it.” He said with a small smirk trying to break the atmosphere. “For the record so does Bobby, but he doesn’t go near it.” 

“I know.” Athena said taking the glass, going outside with it and sitting down with a sigh rubbing her forehead. “I don’t worry about that with him. He wouldn’t risk Lily, I just figure there's no need to show it off.” She said with a smile she barely managed. “Just in case.” 

“Of course." Michael said with a smirk. "Someone's on a diet you don't put chocolate cake near by." He added and she smiled with a little nod. "Sorry to barge in… May called, and then Bobby, sounded important and Bobby was worried about leaving you alone here to deal with them.” Micheal said sitting down besides her, while chuckling at the hiding the alcohol thing.

“It’s alright… Thank you.” Athena said, shaking her head. “It’s sweet of him to worry, and nice of you to come over this late.” 

“I know better than most what she’s like.” Micheal said as they both nodded with little sighs. “I only wish I’d been here to see that little girl lay into her. According to May and Harry it was amazing.” He said with a laugh. Athena had to burst out laughing too. 

“Yeah… It was. My poor baby girl; She was probably just listening and taking everything in all week when they were here until she blew up today when mama asked her for a hug goodbye. She said no, and then mama said something to Bobby about raising her with better manners.”Athena explained taking another sip. Micheal shook his head. 

“She never did know when to stop.” Micheal said with a sigh. “You know it’s funny, he thinks that little girl has nothing off him. But she has plenty, I haven’t seen him blow up on anyone but I have a feeling it would be scary.” 

“That sort always is.” Athena said with a giggle. “He can take a lot, I can only imagine you’d know you really messed up if you ever push hard enough to see that side. I hope we never have too.”

“Amen! It’s always the quiet ones you should watch out for.” Micheal said, shaking his head with a teasing laugh but got serious again quickly after. “Are they going to be okay?” 

“I think so… I’ll pick her up after work from her babysitter’s tomorrow to take her to the firehouse for our standing date there with Bobby. Hopefully he's not too busy and I’ll see how she is then.” Athena said looking up to the sky as she finished her drink. “Then Sunday I get to help them move in.”

“I’ll deal with your parents tomorrow so you don’t have to. I’ll take them to the airport.” Micheal said, giving her a grin. “Consider it a mating present.” 

Athena had to laugh loudly at that, she gave Micheal a look and a nod of thanks because she knew just what a big ‘thing’ that would be for him to have to deal with. “Thank you.” 

“Want me to take the kids?” Micheal asked. “Your mating night shouldn’t be something where you have to worry about being quiet.” He said with a mischief filled grin. 

“You can pick them up Sunday night, but I know they want to be here to help Bobby and Lily move in. May already promised Lily she’d help make her room look pretty like a princess’. I may start moving them in on Saturday, but that depends on the kind of day Bobby has at work. It might be easier if we can move Lily in tomorrow and Bobby in Sunday but I’ll let you know.” Athena said with a smile that was mostly a smirk. Micheal nodded with a chuckle, because he knew just how much she just wanted those two finally living with her. “You sure you’re alright with taking Lily too? You don’t have too, Bobby’s worried you’re only doing it to be nice or something and that it’s going to be too much.” 

“Nonsense, he’s going to be here helping to raise our kids Athena. At some point he’ll be dealing with all three kids too; If he can do it I can as well. She might not be mine, but she is yours. She’s May’s and Harry’s baby sister, She’s important to them. It’s not a problem, besides she’s no trouble. She’s an adorable child.” Micheal said, sounding sure. He’d feel horrible if he had to take his two kids to his house with pizza and movies and left Lily behind knowing she knows her siblings were having fun without her. They were a pack, and by hell he was gonna act like it.

“Alright.” Athena said with a little knowing smirk. “Just remember you said that when you’re trying to wrangle both Harry and Lily while May is on her phone texting her friends being no help at all.” 

“Duly noted.” Micheal said with a laugh. “I’ll leave you in peace now, see you Sunday.” He said with another little laugh before he patted her shoulder and left. Athena just stayed where she was trying to still relax while looking up at the starry sky of Los Angeles knowing that tomorrow this stress would be over. Her mother would be gone and if she was lucky by the end of the weekend she’d have her omega. And if in another part of L.A a certain omega was now showering after having finally put his child to bed and was currently thinking of her just like she was off him; Well Athena didn't have to know.


End file.
